HISTORY OF INCLUSION

The male singing club MGV 1863 Otigheim conceived the idea for the festival in 2003 while preparing to celebrate its 140th anniversary. The idea was to make the festival international and free from competition.

“We never wanted a competition but rather want people to come together to show their culture to the German people,” said Sebastian Kuhn, a singer in the choir, and organisation director of the festival since 2013.

His father Albrecht Kuhn launched the first festival in 2003 that brought together a handful of choirs from Europe, namely Latvia, Hungary, France, Germany and Russia.

The second festival in 2006 saw Italy join most of the founding choirs. Participation extended to 10 choirs in the third edition in 2009. The first choir from the African continent joined the fourth festival in 2013. The fifth festival brought more than 20 choirs, including the first Japan-German choir based in Germany. The sixth festival brought 21 choirs, including Thailand’s first representatives, The Bangkok Voices.

Sebastian Kuhn spent two years organising the sixth festival, meeting the challenges of taking 21 choirs to 13 concerts at 11 venues, and providing participants with food and lodging. Regional businesses support about a third of the funding, with ticket sales providing the rest.

MGV 1863 Otigheim, grouping 60 male choristers, has a female counterpart called Belle Amie that was set up in 2004 with about 50 members.